The Valved Ophicleide: A Broken Promise

When the valve was invented it was at first incorporated into existing instruments, primarily the french horn, the trumpet and the trombone. Valved versions of these instruments sounded recognisably like their natural or slide predecessors. Later, such as the cornet and the tuba new instruments were invented. In the 1830s instruments were introduced in France with the name ‘ophicléïde à pistons’, and in German-speaking countries ‘Ventilophikleide’. The use of these terms for a valved ophicleide promised an instrument which could serve the same functions as the keyed ophicleide and give similar results, but the reality was rather different.